TV classic Candid Camera, produced and hosted by Alan Funt, debuts this day in 1948. Funt had originally created the concept for radio, debuting Candid Microphone in 1947. When it premiered as a television show, the program kept the name Candid Microphone until its second season. Both the radio and TV versions featured unsuspecting people captured in their natural, bemused responses to comic setups. Candid Camera ran on network television from 1948 to 1950, again in 1953, and once again from 1960 to 1967. In 1989, Alan’s son Peter became his father’s co-host in a series of Candid Camera specials. In 1991, CBS tried to revive the show with Dom DeLuise and Eva LaRue as co-hosts, but the show flopped.

On this day in 1960, WARNER BROTHERS released OCEAN’S ELEVEN. Directed by LEWIS MILESTONE, this film existed for the sole reason of giving FRANK SINATRA and his drinking buddies something to do…and audiences were all the better for it. Famous for the hi-jinks that went on off-camera as much for those that went on in front of it, SINATRA, DEAN MARTIN, SAMMY DAVIS JR., PETER LAWFORD and JOEY BISHOP will always be known as THE RAT PACK that starred in OCEAN’S ELEVEN.

We attended a great cocktail party on the Warner Brothers lot Friday night in honor of several new TV shows returning in the Fall. JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUSS was on hand to talk about THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE and to spill a few beans about the ‘almost’ SEINFELD reunion coming up on LARRY DAVID’s HBO series, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. JULIA talked about how strangely easy the whole thing was. Listen in below:

It had to happen – the ultimate video game movie. But, Gamer isn’t based on a hit title like Resident Evil or Silent Hill.

According to one of the stars, Alison Lohman, the film is a inside look at multi-player games – but where real human’s control other humans. In short, Gamer is an example of the good and the bad of side of role-playing addicts, but taken to a higher level.

Additional actors in Gamer include Gerard Butler, John Leguizamo, Michael C. Hall and Kyra Sedgwick. The flick is set for release this September.

Major props to writer/producer JOHN WELLS for keeping it real at Friday night’s TCA session for the returning NBC series, SOUTHLAND. Despite his long-standing relationship with the network and his personal regard for JAY LENO, WELLS was pretty direct in fielding questions regarding his thoughts about NBC taking the 10 o’clock hour away from scripted shows. Listen in below: